In Brazil, public irrigation schemes have been designed in the semi-arid Nordeste with both an economic development and land reform objectives. In the 1980s, water management was transferred to users to solve budget deficit problems. Irrigation Districts are now responsible for water management and technical and financial sustainability of the irrigation schemes. But users` participation to irrigation management, in particular to water pricing reforms faces many problems - access to information and capacity to use it, understanding of problems and dialogue between stakeholders. Water pricing reforms encompasses the entire set of problems related to irrigation, from irrigation scheme design to input management, including commercialisation or water turns management. How can the discussion of water pricing reform then contribute to a better participation of users in the irrigation scheme management process? The approach developed focuses on the analysis of the water pricing reform and on the interface between producers and water districts. The analysis, based on the institutional approach developed by Ostrom, highlights the key issues related to users` participation in the pricing reform and irrigation management transfer. A role-playing game was developed to share the diagnostic of problems and to help stakeholders discuss water management challenges and issues. Stakeholder involvement and discussion of problems are greatly facilitated by the game. The game appears as a good representation and simplification tool, in which players can project themselves although the game «is not their field reality ». Finally, it can be used for diagnosis, dialogue on possible solutions and learning potential capacities.